Cart attaching and detaching apparatus in



March 24, 1964 TOSHIO NAKAHARA 3,126,114

CART ATTACHING AND DETACHING APPARATUS IN A LIFT CHAIN FOR A BUILDING 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 31. 1961 FIG. I

Tosh/a Na/rahara BY Mm, M wfim ATTORNEYS March 24, 1964 TOSHIO NAKAHARA 3,126,114

CART ATTACHING AND DETACHING APPARATUS IN A LIFT CHAIN FOR A BUILDING Filed Aug. 51. 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ava/v 74 1e M ch 5 TOSHIO NAKAHARA I 3,126,114

CART ATTACHING AND DETACHING APPARATUS IN A LIFT CHAIN FOR A BUILDING Filed Aug. 31, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 733/100 MKH HHRH QZz/M, hi; t n

M h 1964 TOSHIO NAKAHARA 3, CART ATTACHING AND DETACHING APPARATUS IN 'A LIFT CHAIN FOR A BUILDING Filed Aug. 31, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Tosh/o Nakahara BY MM) M WM ATTORN EYS United States Patent O 3,126,114 CART ATTACHING AND DETACHING APPARA- TUS IN A LIFI CHAIN FOR A BUILDING Toshio Nakahara, Wakayama City, Japan, assiguor to Izurni Chain Kabushiki Kaisha, Nankai-cho, Sennangun, Osaka Prefecture, Japan Filed Aug. 31, 1961, Ser. No. 135,291 Claims priority, application Japan May 20, 1961 4 Claims. (Cl. 214-624) This invention relates to a cart attaching and detaching apparatus in a lift chain for a building and its object is to provide means for automatically attaching and detaching carts to and from a lift chain moving vertically up and down in a building such as a department store, at once increasing efliciency of conveying goods and saving labor.

With this object in View, the present invention provides a lift chain with an apparatus for attaching and detaching carts wherein a chain is installed in a shaft running through stories of a building adapted to circulate therein vertically, on each story is furnished a table provided near the lift chain, adapted to go up sideways and by this movement a cart thereon automatically has its coupling pieces engaged with hooking members of the ascending lift chain to be carried along while a cart hanging on the descending lift chain is automatically taken off thereby to be placed back on the table.

According to the present invention, not only efficiency of conveying goods is increased with much labor saved but the construction itself is simple enough, making its installation easy.

Other and the further objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification and claims taken together with the accompanying drawings in which is shown the preferred embodiment of the cart taking up and off apparatus for a lift chain according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a sectional elevation of a building having a lift chain apparatus embodying the present invention installed therein;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of a part of the lift chain apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of a cart pick-up and discharge station for the lift chain according to the present invention; and

FIG. 4a is a side elevation view similar to FIG. 4 with the table in the elevated position.

As seen in FIG. 1, as shaft 11 extends through several stories S of a building and at the upper and lower ends thereof are installed a plurality of sprocket wheels on which is mounted a lift chain 13. The shaft of the uppermost sprocket wheel 12 is driven by a motor 12a and drives the lift chain 13 in a vertically positioned closed path. On each story S of the shaft 11 at pick-up stations P and discharge stations D are installed two pairs of sprocket wheels 14, 14 at a short distance above the floor, one pair having an upwardly inclined cart pick-up portion 14 of the chain path therebetween and the other pair having a downwardly inclined cart discharge portion 14 At certain intervals therealong the lift chain 13 has pairs of suspending arms 15, 15, each fixed on a chain pin 16 and having a hook 17 formed at the lower end thereof. The pin 16 is mounted between pairs of link plates 13a, each pair forming one link in one of the two parallel chain portions of the chain 13. On the ends of pin 16 which project past the link plates 13 are fixed two arms 15a each having a roller 1521 on the free end thereof. Rollers 15b run in channel members 14 which extend in an inclined position along opposite sides of the pickup portion 14 and discharge portion 14 and curve upwardly at 14 from the lowermost end thereof, and since the arms 15a and arms 15 are both fixed to pin 16, rollers 15b and arms 15a hold the suspending arms 15 in the vertical position and thus stabilize the arms 15 during pick-up and discharge of the carts.

A table 18 for supporting a cart 19 is positioned beneath each pair of sprocket wheels 14 and is provided with legs 20, 20 On a bed 21 are pivoted pins 22, 22 on which are fixedly mounted arms 23, 23 having the other ends thereof pivoted to the legs 20, 20 respectively. On the pin 22 is fixedly mounted a link 24 and on the pin 22 is fixedly mounted a bell-crank 25, one arm 25 of which is connected with the link 2'4 by a connecting rod 26. A lever 27 has an upper end provided with a pin 28 adapted to engage with a hook 29 formed at the end of the other arm 25 of the bell-crank 25. On a pin 30 mounted on the bed 21 is pivoted another lever 31 at the middle thereof, one arm of which is engaged with an eccentric pin 32 on a chain wheel 33 driven by a chain 34 and the other arm of which is pivoted to the middle of the lever 27 by a pin 35. This end of the lever 31 has an electromagnet 36 mounted thereon, the movable rod 37 of which has an iron piece 38 thereon which is connected to the lower arm of the lever 27. Between the levers 27 and 31 is a spring 39 for pulling the upper arm of the lever 27.

When the chain wheel 33 rotates, the lever 31 pivots on the pin 30 and the lever 27 reciprocates in a vertical direction. Ordinarily since the upper part of the lever 27 is pulled by the spring 30, the pin 28 does not engage with the hook 29 moving up and down in a path to the right of the hook in FIGS. 4 and 14a. However, when the electromagnet 36 is excited and attracts the iron piece 38, the lower arm of the lever 27 is pulled, thus pivoting lever 27 counterclockwise, and the pin 28 engages with the hook 29 thereby pivoting bell-crank 25 clockwise. Thus the downward movement of the lever 27 causes the tables 18, 18 to move up through the clockwise pivotal movement of arms 23, 23 the arm 23 being moved in the same manner as the arm 23 by the agency of the bell-crank 25, the connecting rod and the link 24.

When the hooks 17 are moving along the cart pick-up portion 14, of the chain path, and the cart supporting table is in the raised position by reason of the actuation of the electromagnet 36, a hook 17 will engage a bar 40 on a cart 19, the upwardly inclined movement of the hook, due to the upward inclination of the pick-up portion of the chain enabling the hook 17 to engage beneath the bar 40. Continued upwardly inclined movement will lift the cart from the table 18.

Conversely, on the cart discharge portion 14 if the table 18 is in the raised position, when a hook 17 carrying a cart 19 moves downwardly along the inclined portion of the chain path, the cart will come to rest on the table, and the continued downward movement of the hook will move the hook out from beneath the bar 40, thus leaving the cart resting on the table.

It will of course be understood that when the tables are not in the raised position, the books will pass above the carts which may be resting on the tables beneath the cart pick-up portions, and the carts will thus be left standing on the tables. Likewise, on the cart discharge portions, the carts will not engage the table, and will thus continue to be carried by the lift chain.

It is thought that the invention and its advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it is apparent that various changes may be made in the forms, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the form Patented Mar. 24, 1964 hereinbefore described and illustrated in the drawings being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A lift chain apparatus comprising a lift chain having two parallel chain portions, said chain traveling in a closed vertically elongated path with the chain running upwardly on one side of the path and downwardly on the other side of the path, said chain having a plurality of vertically spaced downwardly inclined cart discharge portions on the upwardly running side of the path and a plurality of upwardly inclined cart pick-up portions on the downwardly running side of the path, cart carrying hooks on said chain at spaced intervals therealong, a cart supporting table beneath each cart pick-up portion and each cart discharge portion of said chain, and raising and lowering means for each cart supporting table on which said cart supporting tables are mounted to position the car within the path of movement of the cart carrying hooks to selectively pick-up and discharge the same.

2. A lift chain apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said raising and lowering means each comprise a plurality of parallel links on which said table is pivotally mounted, the other ends of said links being pivoted in a fixed position relative to said lift chain apparatus, said links being coupled for simultaneous parallel motion, link moving means engageable and disengageable from said links for pivoting said links when engaged thereto, drive means coupled to said link moving means continuously driving said link moving means, and control means on said link moving means for engaging and disengaging said link moving means from said links.

3. A lift chain apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said cart carrying hooks each comprise a pair of downwardly depending suspending arms, one for each parallel chain portion, a chain pin extending between parallel chain portions at each hook position and on which said suspending arms are fixed, a normally horizontally extending arm having a roller on the end thereof fixed on each end of said chain pin, and said apparatus further comprising a pair of inclined channels along opposite sides of each cart pick-up portion and each cart discharge portion of said lift chain, said channels opening inwardly toward said lift chain and said rollers running in said channels when said hooks are moving along a cart discharge or a cart pick-up part of said chain path to hold said suspending arms in a vertical position.

4. A lift chain apparatus comprising a lift chain having two parallel chain portions, said chain traveling in a closed vertically elongated path with the chain running upwardly on one side of the path and downwardly on the other side of the path, said chain having a plurality of vertically spaced downwardly inclined cart discharge portions on the upwardly running side of the path and a plurality of upwardly inclined cart pick-up portions on the downwardly running side of the path, cart carrying hooks on said chain at spaced intervals therealong, a cart supporting table beneath each cart pick-up portion and each cart discharge portion of said chain, and raising and lowering means for each cart supporting table on which said cart supporting tables are mounted to position the car within the path of movement of the cart carrying hooks to selectively pick-up and discharge the same, and a plurality of carts adapted to be positioned on said tables, said carts having means thereon engageable by said hooks.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,829,780 Boor Apr. 8, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 367,376 Germany 'Ian. 20, 1923 549,894 Italy Oct. 18, 1956 

1. A LIFT CHAIN APPARATUS COMPRISING A LIFT CHAIN HAVING TWO PARALLEL CHAIN PORTIONS, SAID CHAIN TRAVELING IN A CLOSED VERTICALLY ELONGATED PATH WITH THE CHAIN RUNNING UPWARDLY ON ONE SIDE OF THE PATH AND DOWNWARDLY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PATH, SAID CHAIN HAVING A PLURALITY OF VERTICALLY SPACED DOWNWARDLY INCLINED CART DISCHARGE PORTIONS ON THE UPWARDLY RUNNING SIDE OF THE PATH AND A PLURALITY OF UPWARDLY INCLINED CART PICK-UP PORTIONS ON THE DOWNWARDLY RUNNING SIDE OF THE PATH, CART CARRYING HOOKS ON SAID CHAIN AT SPACED INTERVALS THEREALONG, A CART SUPPORTING TABLE BENEATH EACH CART PICK-UP PORTION AND EACH CART DISCHARGE PORTION OF SAID CHAIN, AND RAISING AND LOWERING MEANS FOR EACH CART SUPPORTING TABLE ON WHICH SAID CART SUPPORTING TABLES ARE MOUNTED TO POSITION THE CAR WITHIN THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF THE CART CARRYING HOOKS TO SELECTIVELY PICK-UP AND DISCHARGE THE SAME. 